The invention pertains to the field of orthopedic devices, including, support devices for the head and neck.
Known orthopedic devices for use around the neck of a patient are designed to provide support and a degree of comfort for the head, neck, and cervical portion of the spine, hereinafter referred to as the cervical spine. For purposes of this discussion, the cervical spine is not confined anatomically from the C1 to C7 vertebrae. Rather, the cervical spine is also used in the functional sense and includes occiput-C1 through the 3rd-4th thoracic vertebrae. The cervical spine also includes the related soft tissues, i.e. muscles, ligaments, and connective tissues. These head and neck supports are also designed to provide sensory input for a patient, making a patient more conscious of the postural alignment and position of his or her head and neck. The head and neck supports are soft, semi-rigid, or rigid. There are also rigid braces available to support the head and neck. The majority of these head and neck supports are designed to substantially enclose the neck of a patient, and typically include a recess on the top surface to hold the patient""s chin.
Known head and neck supports are generally designed to provide support in the sagittal plane, namely with the patient""s head facing straight forward with zero degrees of rotation of the head and/or cervical spine. Although at times this is beneficial during the treatment of disorders including injuries, because the cervical spine is complex anatomically, biomechanically, and functionally, there are also medical conditions whose treatment requires the head and neck to be supported in positions incorporating varying degrees of rotation of the cervical spine.
These effects relate to the complex movements of the anatomical cervical spine comprised of the first cervical vertebrae through the seventh cervical vertebrae. There are facet joints bilaterally between each vertebrae permitting movements of flexion, extension, sidebending, and rotation. Additionally, occipital condyles at the base of the skull articulate with the first cervical vertebrae, permitting the same types of movements. There are also muscles, tendons, ligaments, and connective tissues between all of these structures, and nerve roots exit the spine on each side at each vertebrae. The movements of sidebending and rotation are physiologically combined and in the same direction from the second vertebrae to the seventh vertebrae. Thus, right sidebending and right rotation are combined or linked. Either movement causes the other to also occur together. Contrary to this, the interface between the skull and the first vertebrae allows reversed movements, i.e. linked but to opposite sides. Thus, right rotation of the head on the C1 vertebrae is combined with left sidebending of the head, and vice versa. This reversal of movement explains why we can rotate the head and neck to the right or left and yet have the head remain level, i.e. not tilted. Therefore, if a patient has pain with right sidebending/right rotation of the upper neck, a treatment could be to support it in left sidebending/left rotation. This relieves the right-sided joints and soft tissues from compression and stretches them.
When using known head and neck supports if the neck must be supported in a rotated position, these known devices must be rotated in the desired direction. Because these devices are configured for use in the sagittal plane they are not designed nor intended for use while rotated. Because rotating them often results in a misfit between the patients and the device, the side portions of these devices press upon the patient""s head and neck, often imparting an unwanted tilt to the head and resulting in discomfort to the patient. Furthermore, the shape of these devices make the positioning and rotational control of the head and neck less predictable and less achievable. For instance, if a physician determines that a patient""s head should be maintained and supported at 15xc2x0 of left rotation, it is often uncomfortable and difficult to rotate the known head and neck supports so as to actually achieve 15xc2x0 of head and neck rotation while also keeping the head level, and the patient comfortable. Thus, there is a need for a head and neck support that allows the head and neck to rotate while the device does not. There is also a need for a head and neck support that eliminates the need for the head and neck to literally follow a device that has been rotated. And finally, there is a need for a head and neck support that is able to provide support to a patient at varying, controlled, individual small ranges of head and neck rotation, without causing discomfort or imparting a tilt of the head.
The present invention comprises a head and neck support device comprising at least one contoured surface. One use of the support device of the present invention is to provide the head, neck, and cervical spine of a patient with rest, support, and kinesthetic input in various degrees of neck rotation, without the need to rotate the support device itself. Rotating a known support device often causes discomfort to the patient, often tilts the patient""s head, and does not allow more precise degrees of head and neck rotation.
One embodiment of the head and neck support device of the present invention comprises an elongate body having a first end and a second end, where the elongate body further comprises a first contoured surface having a plurality of first surface recesses. In another embodiment of the present invention, the elongate body further comprises a second contoured surface having a plurality of second surface recesses.